CNN’s POLITICAL GUT CHECK | for July 15, 2014 | 5 p.m.
— n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

2016 WATCH: READY FOR WARREN: SUPPORTERS OFFICIALLY LAUNCH CAMPAIGN ...Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she's not seeking the White House. But she sure is acting like a potential 2016 contender. She's traveling around the country, introducing herself to voters, testing her message - the sort of thing that candidates do. That's what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is doing on her book tour. And like Clinton, Warren now has an organized group supporting her and encouraging her to run. Ready for Warren also has a petition as well as a Facebook campaign and a Twitter feed to rally support. - Leigh Ann Caldwell.Follow @GutCheckCNNFollow @sarafischerFollow @AlanSilverleibREADY FOR HILLARY:GROUP TOUTS WAR CHEST:The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC urging the former secretary of state to run for president announced Tuesday that it raised more than $2.5 million the past three months, adding 33,000 new donors in the second quarter. Since forming 18 months ago, Ready for Hillary says it's raised over $8.25 million and now has more than two million supporters.

CHRISTIE UNDER ATTACK AS HE HEADS TO IOWA ...Two days before New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie heads to Iowa, a conservative group is launching digital ads slamming the potential 2016 Republican presidential contender over his Garden State record on judicial nominations ... The Judicial Crisis Network announced that it will go up Tuesday with digital ads that attack Christie for not making the New Jersey Supreme Court more conservative. The group says it will spend $75,000 to run 90-second and 15-second spots. – Paul Steinhauser

Gut Check Full Service: COMING TO A GARDEN STATE TOWN NEAR YOU:Rated “R” for reform… Gov. Christie’s newest ad, part of an effort to push more state pension reforms, has been released in the form of a dramatic movie trailer. The spot titled, “No Pain, No Gain,” features dramatic car chases and explosions, and tells viewers to “hang on to your seats.”

2014 WATCH: POLL SHOWS UDALL, PETERS WITH SLIGHT EDGE...According to new NBC News/Marist surveys, Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado leads his GOP challenger, Rep. Cory Gardner, 48%-41%, among registered voters, with one in ten undecided. In the Senate race in Michigan, the poll indicates that Democratic Rep. Gary Peters has a 43%-37% edge over Republican candidate Terry Lynn Land, a former Michigan secretary of state, with a high 19% undecided. The winner in November will succeed longtime Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who is retiring.

CEASE-FIRE COLLAPSES IN THE MIDDLE EAST ...An Egypt-backed cease-fire between Israel and Hamas fell apart Tuesday as rocket attacks from Gaza were answered by Israeli airstrikes once again. The rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza never ceased, Israeli officials said. For its part, Israel refrained from airstrikes for about six hours before announcing it was resuming the attacks. – Ian Lee, Jethro Mullen and Ed Payne

IDF (@IDFSpokesperson)
Since 9:00 AM today, 141 rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israel. That's one rocket every 6 minutes.

CHENEY: ANY ATTEMPT TO IMPEACH OBAMA WOULD BE DISTRACTION ...Although a fierce critic of Barack Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney does not support calls from some on the far right of his party to impeach him, saying it would simply create a distraction. "I'm not prepared at this point to call for the impeachment of the President," Cheney said in an interview with CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper." Cheney believes Obama is "the worst president of my lifetime" and that "Jimmy Carter might have been a better President," but impeaching him is not going to accomplish much. – Jake Tapper and Sherisse Pham

HOUSE GOP BORDER CRISIS PLAN CHEAPER THAN OBAMA’S ...House Republicans are crafting their own plan to address the surge of immigrant children at the southern border that would be significantly less expensive than the $3.7 billion sought by President Barack Obama. It would also add several policy changes to address the matter deemed a humanitarian crisis by many on Capitol Hill and the White House. House Speaker John Boehner wouldn’t give a specific dollar amount, but said after meeting Tuesday with rank-and-file Republicans that he expected to have an outline by the end of the week. – Deirdre Walsh

CORNYN, CUELLAR ANNOUNCE BIPARTISAN FIX...Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is teaming up with Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, to introduce a bipartisan border fix.“Simply put, what it would do is make sure that all unaccompanied minors no matter where they come from are treated exactly the same under the law,” Cornyn said Tuesday. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, threw cold water on the plan, telling reporters he believes the proposal “is too broad” and “does more than just address the border problem.”

CLOCK’S TICKING: Congress has only 12 scheduled work daysto forge a compromise on border crisis before going home for August recess.

THE BUZZ: CLINTON TO MAKE THIRD APPEARANCE ON ‘THE DAILY SHOW' TONIGHT ...Hillary Clinton will sit down Tuesday with "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart. It will be her third time on the program and her first since 2008, when she was still campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination against then-Sen. Barack Obama.

Gut Check Flash Back: Stewart hosted Clinton in March of 2008, a day before crucial primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont. She also appeared on the show in 2003 during the launch of her first memoir "Living History."

TRAIL TRIVIA(Answer Below)
Who did Dick Cheney replace as Chief of Staff in Gerald Ford’s White House in 1975?

the LEDE Did you miss it?

Leading CNNPolitics:White House and Issa Battle over Obama political director
Few Americans know the name David Simas. But the White House political adviser has become the latest flashpoint in the continuing battles between the White House and House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa. – Jim Acosta and Lisa Desjardins

Leading CNNMoney:FBI sends agents to Holocaust museum
The FBI is well aware about the threat to your civil liberties - especially in an age of unwarranted, mass surveillance of our emails and video calls. It's why all FBI academy trainees learn about the rise of Nazi Germany and the transformation of law enforcement into a tool of oppression. – Jose Pagliery

Leading Drudge: NASA: Humans Will Prove We Are Not Alone
NASA predicts that 100 million worlds in our own Milky Way galaxy may host alien life, and space program scientists estimate that humans will be able to find life within two decades.

Leading Politico Magazine: Does the GOP need a FrankenCandidate?
There will never be a perfect candidate, unless brilliant genetic engineers assisted by Watson the computer decide to undertake the task in the distant future. Until then, parties are left with flawed human beings, those bundles of virtues and vices that get proctoscopic treatment during long campaigns. – Larry Sabato

Leading New York Times: Obama Presses Congress for Long-Term Transportation Bill
President Obama on Tuesday pressed Congress to break a deadlock over a long-term transportation spending bill, arguing that Republicans were more interested in trying to “score points on cable TV” than in fixing the country’s roads and bridges. – Peter Baker

HOT SOTSThe political bites of the day

– Holder: echoes of past racial injustices still reverberate –ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER DELIVERING REMARKS AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY: “We must never hesitate to confront the fact, the undeniable truth, that in too many places across this nation that I love – and I have served throughout my life – that the echoes of injustices stretching back nearly four centuries continue to reverberate.”

– Ben Carson group touts fundraising success –DRAFT BEN CARSON FOR PRESIDENT COMMITTEE PRESIDENT JOHN PHILIP SOUSA IV IN A STATEMENT: “The tremendous outpouring of donations and words of support clearly shows that people are clamoring for a principled, unifying leader like Dr. Carson in the White House. We will continue to do all we can to encourage him to run for president.”

– Obama gets behind the wheel –PRESIDENT OBAMA AT A TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY TESTING FACILITY IN VIRGINIA: “I have to say, though, it was a little disorienting. I haven't driven in about six years. And I'm going down the highway, and I think I had a little bit of a lead foot - I was starting to hit 90 ... And then like right next to me, the press pool is standing there, and they’re kind of traveling with me at 90 miles an hour, and it got me a little queasy. But I've recovered."

Gut Check Flash Back: HILLARY CLINTON ON JANUARY 27: “Last time I actually drove a car myself was 1996, and I remember it very well and unfortunately so does the Secret Service, which is why I haven't driven since then."

TOP TWEETSWhat stopped us in 140 characters or less

Jon Ralston ‏(@RalstonReports)
I expect the next announcement from @SenWarren to be that she will come to speak at UNLV for free.

Sunil Patel ‏(@ghostwritingcow)
If you are a dude upset by the fact that Thor will now be a woman, don't be a Thor loser.

TRIVIA ANSWER from @sarafischer

Dick Cheney replaced Donald Rumsfeld as President Gerald’s Ford's Chief of Staff in 1975. Rumsfeld left the post to become Secretary of Defense. Cheney remained as Chief of Staff until Ford left the White House in January 1977.

HAHAHAHAHAHA...funniest thing I read all day. The bubble is a scary, but hilarious, place. Short visits only though please.

July 15, 2014 06:06 pm at 6:06 pm |

Longtimer

Although a fierce critic of Barack Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney does not support calls from some on the far right of his party to impeach him, saying it would simply create a distraction. "I'm not prepared at this point to call for the impeachment of the President,"
_________________________
Pretty funny as Mr. Cheney is essentially an un-tried war criminal- and the reason he wasn't tried is that our current President did not buy into the call to put Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld et al on trial.
Perhaps that is the real reason for Mr. Cheney's suddenly timid approach on that front- and the unfortunate fact that for the GOP, there is nothing to impeach the President over- except of course their own fantasies.

July 15, 2014 06:08 pm at 6:08 pm |

rs

CLOCK’S TICKING: Congress has only 12 scheduled work daysto forge a compromise on border crisis before going home for August recess.
________________________
Don't waste time on counting it down. The GOP will doing nothing. It's their "way".

July 15, 2014 06:28 pm at 6:28 pm |

Former republican, now an independent

I cannot understand how this narcissistic sociopath still gets his opinions in the media. Anyone with half of a brain quit paying attention to him long before he ever left office!

July 15, 2014 06:46 pm at 6:46 pm |

Ul

That was classic Cheney – God Bless him. I have to agree that Obama train wreck would be just too much fun to miss watching. Once you have seen incompetence at these levels it is a great reminder to people to vote.

July 15, 2014 06:46 pm at 6:46 pm |

Winston Smith

I wonder if the person that donated the heart, had the same views as this creep? Bet they didn't, or they would not have been an organ doner.

July 15, 2014 08:06 pm at 8:06 pm |

Marie MD

Jail is where he belongs for killing thousands of Americans and Iraqis.

July 15, 2014 08:10 pm at 8:10 pm |

Tommy G

Cuba might be ready for Warren but the USA certainly is not. She is to the left of Fidel Castro. Democrats have really lost their mind if they think Warren is electable as President. A rich, proven liar, liberal elitist from Harvard thast goes around taking about the system being rigged after she collected $300,000-400,000 from Harvard for teaching one or two courses.

Also, I wonder when is the national press going to ask Warren about her lndian ancestry lies? Or will they try to hide it and bury it so they can sell her like they sold Obama?

July 15, 2014 10:45 pm at 10:45 pm |

Anonymous

Spgfld Tom
Obama could pick up his phone and call the Presidents of Mexico/Honduras/El Salvadore/Guatemala to stop this invasion.
-–

He could but he is far too busy on the phone making vacation and campaign fund raiser plans. Priorities, priorities, priorities...

July 15, 2014 10:51 pm at 10:51 pm |

Megan

Cheney is smart. Impeachment proceeding would be like rescuing Obama from all his self imposed failures. It would be like throwing Obama a lifeline and getting his base re-enthused. Things are ending badly as Cheney predicted so no need to step in.

July 15, 2014 10:52 pm at 10:52 pm |

Sip That Kool Aid, It's All You're Good For.

The people who looked toward this greasy headed, loud mouthed, piece of garbage are the real enemy's of the people of the United States. They do exist, they usually hide when trouble breaks out, and fan the flames of trouble to get the fire started to begin with. They may be cowards, but they have a leader and he's the leader.

July 16, 2014 02:13 am at 2:13 am |

g

dick made millions on the Iraq war

July 16, 2014 07:13 am at 7:13 am |

bassman

Gurgyl

Put Dick Cheney in jail without parol. This idiot needs to go away.

Only a liberal would want to jail VP Cheney for trying to warn America that another attack could happen, and that we have come complacent.